When Cody Bryant began the Master of Business Administration (MBA)-Executive Program at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, he knew there would be an international study tour during the 16-month program, but he had no idea how much of an impact the trip would have on him.
Bryant, a commercial program manager at Kimberly-Clark, boarded the nine-hour flight to Stockholm, Sweden, with a group of 24 individuals comprising MBA students, College of Business (COB) faculty and several spouses. The cohort spent five days in the Scandinavian capital, later traveling to Prague, Czech Republic, for four more days.
“I was looking forward to meeting with foreign companies and experiencing the cultures of Stockholm and Prague,” Bryant said. “But it was so much more than that. It was a crazy impactful trip.”
While abroad, the group visited eight companies ranging in scale and activity. The visits served as more than a basic meet-and-greet tour. The students gained firsthand knowledge of the business challenges and opportunities present in Europe, and they also got to impart their own insights and expertise to these businesses.
According to Bryant, students and faculty found themselves engaged in lively discussion and problem-solving exercises with company executives throughout the trip.
“At Dame Jidlo, a food delivery service in Prague, our cohort was divided into two groups,” Bryant explained. “Each group walked through a current business situation the delivery service faced, and our solutions were presented to the company. As a cohort, we were able to offer advice to the association to help expand their view of pricing models beyond Central Europe. It was true, global collaboration.”
Tera Larson, associate director of marketing and events for UW Oshkosh’s MBA program, works closely with Dale Feinauer, COB assistant dean of graduate programs, and the Office of International Education (OIE) to identify relevant, compelling destinations for each MBA-executive cohort to tour.
For Larson, trip-planning commences as soon as the cohort roster is finalized. Her goal is to partner with OIE, along with an external vendor, to generate an itinerary that best aligns with the students’ interests.
“We look for countries with differing views of global business,” Larson said. “Our cohorts have always traveled to two destinations. We tend to pair a westernized location with a non-westernized location.”
In past years, cohorts have traveled to areas including Hong Kong, China, and Nagasaki, Japan; Accra, Ghana, and London, England; and Seoul, South Korea, and Beijing, China.
As for the companies they visit, the team evaluates the industries and positions represented in each cohort and leans on the external vendor to connect with companies to arrange tours.
The team also considers significant trends and current events when selecting destinations. In Prague, for example, the group visited Foxconn’s development and research center to tie in the new Foxconn plant coming to southeast Wisconsin.
Aside from the learning aspects of the international tour, the MBA-Executive students enjoyed getting to know their classmates and instructors on a personal level. This facet of the executive program has been, and will continue to be, an invaluable experience for students to gain global business perspectives.
Learn more: